This is the end

SCENE: A COURTYARD IN SHADOW. MUSIC PLAYS FAR AWAY. THEY SPEAK, FILLING THE COURTYARD WITH WHISPERS, THEIR VOICES GLITTERING LIKE GEMSTONES.

EMERALD VOICE: "Quite a shame, quite a shame. We did so like that city. Oh, waily waily, our house in ruins...! What a beautiful game it was, though - and such good sports all."

SAPPHIRE VOICE: "We shall return, perhaps, in a less fervent season? Though now it is under the cursed serpent's aegis... by the void and abyss, how I hate that cursèd songbird!"

RUBY VOICE: "All the more reason to skulk in secret, my dearest darling confidante. We'll find places, and people will whisper to us once more. The circle turns, and tickets are always on sale."

TOPAZ VOICE: "And what of the rest? The sloth? The hybrid? The chatterer? The firestorm? All in their tedium. They'll all be clamouring to be there now. Not to even speak of --"

SAPPHIRE VOICE: "-- don't you go on so, beloved. We were the first! First to notice the potential of the place, before the feathered bore stuck in her beak. Art is about getting everyone talking."

RUBY VOICE: "First to roost, and first to flee. Such is our lot. O, what an ill-fated star for the beloved of cats. Friendless, now, abandoned by our confidantes. Even dearest Teodore... even--"

EMERALD VOICE: "-- you know I heard the Barossa priest is to defend Bela Vicente. Rumour speaks, companions mine, that he does so out of an obligation we created - how exceptionally droll."

SAPPHIRE VOICE: "Ah, Asav. Pleasant, this time of year. Now there's a place that appreciates the value of intrigue. Not like these Catazarri secret-murderers, addicted to truth's dishonesty."

TOPAZ VOICE: "Or Jarm. Our friends in the Violet Forest have been saying we have been neglecting them. Though they keep busy anyway, I hear. There's always a way where there's a will."

EMERALD VOICE: "So we're agreed. A sojourn onwards to new retreats for this merry band of players and artists. We must prepare for the next debut. Where one curtain falls, after all, another rises."

THE FIGURES RETREAT FROM THE SHADOWS. A SMALL ALBINO KITTEN WANDERS OUT ONTO THE STAGE. IT LOOKS TOWARDS THE AUDIENCE. IT LOOKS AT YOU.

Letitia lowered the pages, trying to keep her face neutral, but Mario saw through her immediately. He jutted his jaw pugnaciously, and she could see him getting angry with her before she had even opened her mouth.

"Well?" He demanded. She tried to plaster a smile on her face but it wouldn't stick and slipped off, possibly because she had started to sweat.

"It's a bit... I mean it's very good obviously." The last bit was spoken very fast indeed because she'd noticed Mario had one hand on the pommel of the rod at his side. The playwright's days of fighting for the Conclave were past, but he kept the rod to remind people that as well as wrangling words he could still crack heads when the situation called for it.

"A bit what," he said, refusing to let it go.

"It's a bit... it's a bit.. over the top?"

Mario ripped the pages from her hands and threw them on the ground. The rest of the company turned to gawk, as actors are wont to do. Two of the stage hands took the opportunity to nip off for a quick break.

"FINE!" Mario shouted in a voice Letitia swore was making the rafter vibrate. He could project when he wanted to. "You wanted a play about the Whisper Gallery but I give you a play about the Whisper Gallery and what do you do? You criticise! You throw it back in my face! You write a play that captures the enigmatic nature of the Lords of the Chiaroscuran Throne then! You clearly know what you want better than I do!" The playwright stormed out.

Letitia squeezed the bridge of her nose. She hated bringing the company to Spiral, because of exactly this kind of thing. What, she wondered - not for the first time - did the Black Plateau have against art?

Sofonisba Amilcara is somehow the map to the City Below. Exactly what that means is... well, a mystery.

Overview

The peculiar dramaturgic confluence that began in the city of Apulus more than a year ago, seems to have a reached a crescendo. Against a backdrop of running battles in the Apulus streets between strangely-coloured cats with mispaired eyes and songbirds with rainbow feathers, a cadre of military units arrives in the city to help Sofonisba Amilcara "map the city below".

Apparently convinced that there is not enough night magic running amok in the territory, someone has laid a powerful enchantment over the territory. It brings strange dreams that seemed to be linked to ongoing events. Many people suddenly awaken from dreams in which they were part of the ongoing war, fighting as either a cat or a bird against the enemy trying to seize control of the city.

Despite the strangeness, most inhabitants of Spiral find sleep brings renewed optimism and vigour. The city is filled with a feverish energy, and on the lonely mountain slopes those that live there are filled with a new joy after many sorrows. Things live. This is an old place, with a history beyond imagining, and it seems impossible it could ever be abandoned, so tightly and beautifully does it command the heart of those who call it home.

Talon and claw

The war between birds and cats is over, and the city echoes with birdsong.

The war between birds and cats is over, and the cats have decided they'd actually rather not live in the city any more thank you.

• The war between the cats and the birds is over
• The birds have driven the cats out of the city
• Birdsong is now everywhere in Apulus, drowning out the emanations of the Black Plateau

As the season wears on, the war for dominion in Apulus intensifies with open fighting on the streets between the two rivals gangs. The first major battle takes place on Mulberry Avenue; a large flock of common blackbirds are deployed to the area, but as soon as they alight on the walls and rooftops, they are set upon by a force of cats that are lying in wait for them. Like soldiers under Clarity of the Master Strategist, the cats are able to strike with perfect coordination, taking the enemy by surprise, killing two and driving the rest away. Days later a group of nightjars are attacked in the same way on Bleeker Street with similar results.

Despite this, it soon becomes clear that the cats are not winning. Eventually the birds are able to arrange an ambush of their own. A group of cats surround a tiny thrush that appears to have recklessly alighted on a branch on the old yew tree outside the Lone Reveller, a well-regarded eatery on the city's central plaza. Cats converge on the bird from every side-street, but as they do a huge flock of birds of prey plummet from the sky. Amber hawks lancing down to the streets below, plummeting kites with beautiful argent feathers, diving merlins whose feathers bear the rune of wealth.

A battle royale takes place all across the plaza, but the cats are badly outnumbered and outmatched and they are routed in short order. From that point on, no cat is seen in the plaza, thereafter it is the secure demesne of beautiful songbirds. The pattern repeats all across the city and soon the cats are in full retreat. In dribs and drabs they flee the city, seeking refuge in the citadels and spires that still dot the hills and mountains of the territory. By the end of the season, there is not a single cat of any kind left in Apulus.

In their place, the city is filled with birds of every kind and colour imaginable. Most are flighty and wary of people, but the smaller ones come close if fed with seed. Their birdsong fills the city, countless beautiful songs, each one different to the last, are now audible on every street and avenue in the city. Those whose cats have fled mourn the loss of their pets, but the presence of the birds is so beneficial it is hard to be entirely disgruntled. Somehow, the birdsong it entirely drowns out the constant malevolence coming from the Black Plateau, leaving the city well-protected and serene.

The strangely coloured cats with the mispaired eyes have not quit the territory entirely. Every Urizeni spire, every Urizeni magician, has been approached by at least one of the odd cats, seeking adoption and shared cohabitation. Negotiations are opened with offers of dead mice, and the promise of a study completely free of flies and other insects. Despite the obvious concerns, all magical investigation reveals that while the cats are unusually clever and conspiratorial, and clearly touched by night magic, they are not otherwise marked by any connection to the realm or any one of its inhabitants. Any Urizeni magician who wishes, now has at least one cat whose fur is a single primary color, like a bright red or a deep green, with mispaired eyes. The cats are hard working, keeping spires clear of insects and vermin and they are all highly companionable. They clearly welcome human company and like to snuggle close when people are talking or otherwise engaged.

Never follow me

Citizen	Banner	Nation
Alistair de Vere	House de Vere	Dawn
Alys de Vere	House de Vere	Dawn
D'Eon	Anvil Lance	Dawn
Desmond Redbear Steward		Dawn
Earl Enchanter Severin De Manticore		Dawn
Evrard Taillier		Dawn
Lady Soleil-Jolie duLac	House duLac	Dawn
Lerac Birdkeep		Dawn
Lord Bors "The Middle" du Merciel		Dawn
Mirella of the Twisted Rose	Amber Lance	Dawn
Olwyn Pickle	Amber Lance	Dawn
Perrin Syrenus	House Syrenus	Dawn
Ser Percival of de Licorne	House de Licorne	Dawn
Adrianna	Fellowship of the Cinion Dawn	Silver Flame
Caius	Fellowship of the Cinion Dawn	Silver Flame
Quintus	Fellowship of the Cinion Dawn	Silver Flame
Renata	Fellowship of the Cinion Dawn	Silver Flame
Carmine de Sarvos "Father"	The Printers' Guild	The League
Natalia 'The Falcon' Barossa	Company of The Red Fox	The League
Sofonisba Amilcara of the City Below		The League
Aella	Tropaion	Urizen
Althaea Sunshaper	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Arephanes of Tropaion Citadel	Tropaion	Urizen
Argentus	The Wise Citadel	Urizen
Atreus	The Citadel of the Still Waters	Urizen
Cassian Highwind		Urizen
Corinthius	The Wise Citadel	Urizen
Cyrus	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Cyrus Stillwater	The Citadel of the Still Waters	Urizen
Donato of the Crucible		Urizen
Fausta Ankarien		Urizen
Floria Sunshaper	Sunshaper Citadel	Urizen
Grakulus		Urizen
Halkyon of the Myriad Stream	The Banner of the Spiral Council	Urizen
Ignatious		Urizen
Linos	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Magnus	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Marcus	The Citadel of the Still Waters	Urizen
Sabina		Urizen
Shibboleth Tziporah		Urizen
Valerius	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Varrus	Urizen, Whole	Urizen
Vespasian	Tropaion	Urizen
Xanthippe Of the Lighthouse-That-Was	Arete's Promise	Urizen

• Sofonisba Amilcara has successfully become the Map to the City Below
• The military units who assisted her have uncovered a lair under the dominion of the Whisper Gallery below the Vicente School and Orphanage
• The lair has been destroyed but the Whisper Gallery has stolen the Orphanage that was hiding it
• Sung has rewarded the Map to the City Below for their efforts
• There is a pack insert for everyone who took part in the venture that contains words that might describe their experience

At the request of the Rainbow Serpent, Sofonisba Amilcara - the magician the League Assembly has appointed to become the "Map to the City Below" - successfully arranged just under forty five military units to support their efforts to explore the the sewers and passageways that lie beneath the old city. Fears that the Whisper Gallery would find a way to hinder their efforts have proved unfounded and the force was more than enough to achieve the eternal's goals, whatever they might be. They haven't actually managed to produce a physical map that anyone can check - in fact many of the military units didn't actually seem to do anything other than spend long nights in deep slumber - but that's fine because there was already a perfectly practical map of the sewers anyway. And yet, and yet..

There were revelations at the recent summit of a terrible conspiracy at the heart of the Empire. A cult of the Whisper Gallery has been exposed: involving not only the duSesna Guild of Reckoners in Apulus, but, it is said, the very highest levels of the Conclave itself. A web of lies and deceit has been spun that has left many wondering who they can truly trust. Thus, it is not a complete shock, when Sofonisba and her allies report that they have discovered a lair of the Whisper Gallery here in Apulus.

The Shadow Den of the Adumbral Volution is something akin to a fane. It has been established in the basement of the Vicente School and Orphanage, not by the action of the Senate, but by the action of wicked cultists. Somehow these agents of wickedness have suborned the title-holder's natural authority over the orphanage and used it to grant dominion to the Whisper Gallery, despite the Senate's lack of formal cession. In practical terms, the result is not that different to a fane - its presence here has allowed the eternal to operate freely in the city - only in this case nobody knew it was happening. Sadly it is difficult to discern more, for the Orphanage has been lost in the battle. The allies of Sung claim they didn't destroy the building; if that is true, the most likely alternative is that the Whisper Gallery has chosen to spirit it away somehow. If the eternal can't have the school, neither can the Empire, it would seem.

Night Marks

Apulus has been left permanently marked by the dominion of the Whisper Gallery. Every magician who examines the marks agrees that there is nothing that can be done about them, but they aren't a threat to the city right now. They may become an issue in the future, but if that happens there will be a way to deal with them then.

They might draw the attention of other night eternals seeking to become involved in the City Below, or they might create an opportunity for the Whisper Gallery to cause trouble for citizens of Spiral. They exist in case we choose to use them for a new plot involving the eternal in the future.

The Shadow Den has been uprooted, and the baleful influence of the Whisper Gallery on Apulus has been ended. The duSesna Guild have gone to ground, fleeing Apulus. In time most will likely be found and brought to justice by enterprising captains - for they no longer have anywhere to hide, here. Sofonisba reports that she and the captains supporting her have overturned the lair and run the Whisper Gallery out of the city. The eternal is defeated... but their presence here has seeped in to the stones of the city. The wound has healed, but the scar remains. Magicians who cast Bright Lantern of Ophis while in Apulus can sense something which most agree are the marks left on the city by the eternal. A parting gift from the Shadow Courtiers: the magical equivalent of graffiti scrawled on the toilet walls.

There is nothing that can be done about this now: not without razing the city to the ground and beginning again. There is little to fear from these marks in and of themselves - they don't have any power over the city or anyone who dwells in it. The only influence they could have would be to make the city a little more secretive and conspiratorial - and really... this is Apulus. Would anyone even notice at this point?

It would be unwise to forget about the marks completely however. The Whisper Gallery has had to expend considerable effort to create the marks. The Concilium of the Perjured Throne has demonstrated that the Empire can drive it out, but they cannot remove every trace of its influence. The marks show that the eternal had dominion here once and that perhaps, it intends to return one day to reclaim its prize. Perhaps for that reason, Sung has rewarded the Map to the City Below, empowering them to protect the city from the malevolent wickedness of the Whisper Gallery.

Take a chance with us

• Other Night eternals have inquired if they might themselves receive a berth in the City Below
• In particular, the Azoth and Sadogua have drawn up some curious proposals
• The actual effect of building these commissions is a mystery - but Sung guarantees a measure of protection and safety under the shadow of her wings

The Delectable Refectory

Commission Type: Edifice

Location: Apulus, Spiral

Cost: 10 wains of mithril, 10 wains of white granite, 10 rings of ilium, and 60 crowns

Time: 1 season

Special: The Delectable Refectory would need to be ceded to Sadogua

Effect: All the effects of this edifice are a mystery

Availability: One year, until the start of Summer Solstice 389YE

The Grand Laboratory

Commission Type: Edifice

Location: Apulus, Spiral

Cost: 10 wains of mithril, 10 wains of white granite, 10 weirwood, 10 rings of ilium, and 90 crowns

Time: 1 season

Special: The edifice would need to be ceded to Azoth

Effect: All the effects of this edifice are a mystery

Availability: One year, until the start of Summer Solstice 389YE

As predicted, the completion of Sung's fane has drawn attention from other Night eternals - and the routing of the Cavalcade of Purrs has only heightened that, for there is little love lost between the Shadow Courtiers and the other denizens of the realm. Heralds working for both the Azoth and Sadogua have begun seen now regularly in the city this season and have also come to call at spires and citadels across the territory. The two eternals have made no secret of the fact that they would dearly love a place within the City Below to call their own.

Sadogua, perhaps predictably, has taken a close interest in the dramaturgical college. His heralds have presented his "suggestions" for an annex to the University; specifically, Batfather feels that the current plans fail to take into account the need to ensure that students and teachers are replete with find food and drink, so that they can indulge themselves when needed or deserved. As such, the Brother of Wizards suggests the construction of what he calls the Delectable Refectory. This would be an edifice ceded to Sadogua - a fane for all practical terms - at which banquets would be served for those who cared to attend them, "with plenty of extra trimmings and custard for all as wants them, and hammocks provided too to aid in after-dinner digestion". Everyone would be welcome to attend, but the Refectory would be housed inside a Night regio, so they would need to cast operate portal to enter, or have some other means of ingress and egress.

The Azoth has let it be known that it, too, would like a home in the city of night. They envisage a Grand Laboratory that is attached to the growing University of Apulus, though to what end is unclear. As such, they propose that in lieu of actual plans, a suitable quantity of building materials could be acquired first. Then, once they had been arranged, Makeready would provide the builders and craftspersons with several dozen of its finest alchemical concoctions. After that, they could be encouraged to "just sort of make what comes to mind - no wrong answers!", as one herald put it. Such an... unconventional... approach would be guaranteed to produce something original and creative. Whether that is an entirely good idea is open to criticism, as one Holberg professor of civil engineering dryly comments "You can overrate the value of originality when suspending three tons of roofing tiles over someone's head".

Either, or both, of these edifices could be constructed and ceded so long as the Conclave does not declare its enmity on either Eternal. Experienced magicians caution that doing so is bound to provide some benefits to the city, but will inevitably attract even more attention from the other night eternals. Lashonar and Janon are both under enmity at the moment, preventing their heralds from appearing in Spiral, even despite the enchantment over the territory, but there are murmurings that they share the desire of their fellow wyrms and serpents to engage.

There are clear risks in ceding anything to an eternal of course, not least what happens if the Empire decides to change its mind. However the heralds attending the Chamber of Euphony claim that Spiral Dancer has enfolded her wings around Apulus, protecting its mysteries and its occupants from harm. Now that the battle for Apulus is won, other night eternals seeking a foothold in the city would be bound to acknowledge Sung's ascendency. The protection provided by the Rainbow Serpent is something of a double-edged sword - it preserves mysteries, making it literally impossible for Sadogua or Azoth to know what the edifices they propose might ultimately do, but it severely restricts the ability of any eternal to act with genuine malice or deceit. It is not impossible that an eternal could circumvent such protection, Sung is not all knowing and is as prone to error as any mortal, but it would make it vastly more difficult.

This is why Spiral Dancer has created the Map to the City Below. Having successfully driven the Concilium of the Perjured Throne from Spiral, the Map is now "bound" to the City. Sung's heralds don't actually mean bound in the way a magical item is bound to its owner, but they clearly mean something similar. It is clear that Sung believes that a map of the city represents the city in a way that goes beyond what a mortal cartographer might assume. Mortals see the map as an image that represents the city - Sung views it the other way round, regarding the city as a reflection of the map. To the eternal, the map is real and concrete while the city is abstract and symbolic.

Which is all a lot of fancy magical bollocks in the minds of many practical League business folk. What it actually means is that the "Map" will usually be the first to know if the city is threatened by an eternal. Or that the Map will know about any threat as soon as Sung does. Or that Sung will know about any threat as soon as the Map does. At least one of those things is definitely true, possibly all of them. Straight answers are rare with some night eternals, and none more so than the Lord of Illusions.

The moment prepared for

Dramaturgy is at once bold and obvious, but also subtle and enigmatic. A play is an easy thing to understand, but its effect on the mind and the spirit not quite so straightforward.

• The dramaturgical confluence has largely ceased, though its cause and nature remain an elusive mystery

The dramaturgical confluence that began with the streets of Apulus beginning to stretch and tangle seems to have finally ended. Dramaturgists report that the personae and the thrones seem to be behaving more normally, at least for now. To the disappointment of some, the streets of Apulus seem to have largely settled down. Things are finally where they should be. Good news for accountants who are late for important meetings to go through the books with a client, bad news for cicisbeo who discover they can no longer cram a week's entertainment into a single night.

Not everything is back exactly the way it was. There is a back-alley off Metals Street just behind Lorazo's Smithy that is barely fifty yards long but it still emerges on Bleeker Street despite the fact that Bleeker Street is almost a mile away. There is a bookdealers in Three Corpse Culvert called Newcomers's Books which has five complete floors to it, as well as a basement, despite being housed in a single story building. There is a statue of Salt Lord Kaliact on the dockfront which slowly changes position, but only when someone is looking at it: otherwise, it is perfectly still. For the large part, these magics are muted and minor, at least compared with the torrent that swept the city when the confluence was in effect.

It is not clear what caused the confluence, or what it ended it for that matter. It is easy to imagine that it was the Whisper Gallery, too easy in the minds of many dramaturgists, who are convinced that the tale cannot be that simple. Dramaturgy has certain resonances that lend itself to the Whisper Gallery's games, but it is not solely the province of Night, after all.

Once the Barossa University of the Dramaturgical Arts is complete, they will be in a position to investigate dramaturgical magic more thoroughly. If they can examine the personae, thrones and instruments, and any lingering effects of the confluence, this might give insight into what happened in Apulus. Even if it doesn't, it will certainly leave the Empire much better prepared were another confluence to form which would be useful given how eager eternals appear to have been to take advantage of this one.